Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

Growing up me and my friends in the UK were so jealous of American High Schools...the fact they had no uniforms, everyone drove cars, partied all the time, huge sports fields, we all thought it was like the high school movies we used to watch.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

What happened was globalization, they graduated and mostly went in the military to fight in third world shit holes for 30 years , to prison or just went to heroin addiction to face the grind of having no future working at Burger King or Walmart.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

The term is called "reality".

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 78425870

That's too vague. What do you mean?

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 78425644

Presumably he would mean human existence is exhaustive, depressing, and demoralizing and this being a high school they've yet to "grow up and face the music". One would assume at least.

On the other hand, they say reality is what you make of it. Free speech allows us to say anything and everything and influence those who happen to be in earshot. Or today. On social media. One vile perspective that could before only infect a few hundred metres can now infect an entire globe in a matter of seconds. Of course. Same goes for something positive.

I was the one who posted the following video and went on and on about it.

I gave it a lot of thought. I realized that both of the women in the following video were in their late 20s in 1995 which means they both graduated from high school in the 1980s. I wrote the following about the topic which summarizes my point in this thread:

"I think anyone who's interested in this topic should watch Halle Berry in that video too. Berry was a lot like Fuentas having the full package that any man could possibly want. The most amazing thing to me is that it's apparent that neither of them thought of themselves as being too special.

The fact is that back then those two women were not that much better than average personality wise compared to the typical American woman.

Just compare these songs. Madonna in 1986 and Selena Gomez in 2015. Both songs were co-written by the singers.

What have we got? Madonna is singing about how she'll improve her lover's life in all kinds of positive ways. She's offering support and advice and she's explaining why her lover should trust her, and why they'll be happy together.

Selena Gomez is singing about how she'll enhance her lover's life by allowing him to look at her. Nothing else. It's just that she's so hot, her lover should be overjoyed and blissful because he can look at her.

I think women like Selena Gomez grow up thinking that their looks are everything because the Internet teaches them that.

From their first date on, all they need to do is put a picture of themselves on Instragram or whatever, and they'll get more offers from males than they can deal with.

Before the Internet took over, women had to compete for men's attention based on their personalities as much as their looks because almost all attraction only came from face-to-face interaction.

What's the motivation for someone like Selena Gomez to develop her personality growing up? There's none because she'll get what she wants regardless of her personality.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

Part of it is that back then the average person wouldn't be interacting with a camera on even a monthly basis, so everyone puts on their best behavior.

Nowadays everyone is on camera every day, so it's hard to justify the same level of effort.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 76919720

Yea exactly. It’s the camera

Quoting: Miss Bunny Swan

I was in middle school in California at that time. I began high school the next year. I can tell you based on first-hand experience that you're mostly wrong. People acted different in front of video cameras for sure, but the joyful atmosphere you see in the video captured the essence of how things were.

The video embedded in the original post is a typical example from that time period. That's the way it was.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

Part of it is that back then the average person wouldn't be interacting with a camera on even a monthly basis, so everyone puts on their best behavior.

Nowadays everyone is on camera every day, so it's hard to justify the same level of effort.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 76919720

Yea exactly. It’s the camera

Quoting: Miss Bunny Swan

I was in middle school in California at that time. I began high school the next year. I can tell you based on first-hand experience that you're mostly wrong. People acted different in front of video cameras for sure, but the joyful atmosphere you see in the video captured the essence of how things were.

The video embedded in the original post is a typical example from that time period. That's the way it was.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 78425924

Huh. I was a little kid. By the time I got to high school, things were much drearier I guess.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

Growing up me and my friends in the UK were so jealous of American High Schools...the fact they had no uniforms, everyone drove cars, partied all the time, huge sports fields, we all thought it was like the high school movies we used to watch.

Re: Random American High School in 1989: Such vitality, happiness, vigor...What happened to us?

Part of it is that back then the average person wouldn't be interacting with a camera on even a monthly basis, so everyone puts on their best behavior.

Nowadays everyone is on camera every day, so it's hard to justify the same level of effort.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 76919720

Yea exactly. It’s the camera

Quoting: Miss Bunny Swan

I was in middle school in California at that time. I began high school the next year. I can tell you based on first-hand experience that you're mostly wrong. People acted different in front of video cameras for sure, but the joyful atmosphere you see in the video captured the essence of how things were.

The video embedded in the original post is a typical example from that time period. That's the way it was.

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 78425924

Huh. I was a little kid. By the time I got to high school, things were much drearier I guess.

Quoting: Miss Bunny Swan

I remember you having an Australian flag.

This thread is mostly about upper middle class American life in the 1980s which I was lucky enough to experience.